The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Many people cannot afford health insurance or cannot afford adequate health insurance. People who cannot afford any health insurance are referred to as uninsured people, and people who cannot afford adequate health insurance are referred to as underinsured people. The following discussion applies to both uninsured people and underinsured people. Throughout the present disclosure, the term “uninsured people” will be used to refer to uninsured people, underinsured people and both uninsured and underinsured people.
Many uninsured people do not receive preventive healthcare services. Additionally, many uninsured people do not receive therapeutic healthcare services except perhaps in emergency situations. Emergency services can be more expensive than preventive and non-emergency therapeutic services. Further, prompt preventive and/or therapeutic healthcare can often obviate emergency situations.
Lack of health insurance and lack of access to healthcare services can adversely impact uninsured people, their employers, and the communities they inhabit. For example, uninsured people may be unable to work or may be less productive at work as a result of chronic health issues. Consequently, income levels of uninsured people may fall due to chronic health issues. Additionally, employers with uninsured employees may sustain monetary losses when uninsured employees cannot work or are less productive due to chronic health issues. Consequently, income levels of the employers may fall.
When income levels of uninsured employees and/or their employers fall, tax revenues of government entities may decline. Consequently, the government entities may downsize or eliminate programs that assist uninsured people, thereby further depriving uninsured people of access to healthcare services.